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May 29th, 2009 by Leadership Catalyst

The Employee Is Dead
Employees vs. Co-Creators

A father’s well meant advise to his children not too long ago sounded somewhat like this:

‘Get a good education, graduate with decent grades and find a good employer. If you don’t rock the boat too much and are diligent at your job your loyalty shall be rewarded with promotions and, more importantly, with a steady income’

This paradigm is still very much in evidence across large swathes of businesses. A re-active, you-tell-me-what-to-do employee mindset that abdicates responsibility and creativity in exchange for a stable income.

The time for this way of living has come and gone. The new reality will be owned by individuals who see themselves as ‘one-man-consultant’ operations who rent their time and knowledge to other operations in order to achieve specific targets: the Co-Creator.

Categories like ‘loyalty’ and ‘hard work’ if unaided by inventiveness, contribution and co-creation are losing their shine faster than a new dime in the salty water of the Pacific Ocean.

Simply put: if you do not have new ideas to contribute you are virtually useless to a company…. You are just another mouth to feed (also known as headcount… can you hear the bleating of the sheep?)

The Big Hurdle – Is Anyone Listening?

The biggest hurdle is not that people may have nothing to contribute. It’s the fear of their ideas not being heard (or outright ignored) that has many a team member keeping their mouth shut.

This is the main culture challenge for old/established organizations: how do we open our cultures, become transparent and not merely pay lip service to the top management’s exhortations about being open and creative from the bottom up.

Bring On Jeremy Sevush

Never heard the name? Perk up your ears, Jeremy is the sign of things to come for companies who will make a difference.

Best Buy is a household name in the USA for price conscious electronics buyers. What started as a powerful idea (go into critical mass bulk business and offer the best price in town) ran it’s course, ending up in an ever downward pointing spiral. Cheap begat cheaper and this begat dwindling bottom lines.

It was time for a change.

This is when Best Buy did something very clever. It tapped into the very people who were the nexus between the company and the consumer: the everyday Joes who worked the floors of their mega-shops. Normal people who understood the company and at the same time lived the lives of the people who would actually consume the products the sold.

Best Buy took a few of their best & brightest younger floor and outlet managers, locked them up in 4 teams for 10 weeks with 1 mission: think of a viable business model that can be implemented in a short time.

The result was Studio D. A design and shopping concept focusing on women, allowing them to design the home of their dreams… all ideated by Jeremy Sevush, who is now the boss of this new organization1

Create The Unasked For Presentation

Don’t wait for your company to lock you up at an internal Big Brother think tank party. Take that idea you have been having for a long time. Manifest it into a tightly focused powerpoint presentation, create your own business case and send it to the top management. Yes, I said: top management. Don’t waste your time slashing your way through the middle management BS jungle.

No Idea How To Start? – Here Is A Hint

Of course you may be all excited about the idea of finally uncorking all that know-how you have and gelling it into a tangible presentation that will impress top management. But how to start? When was the last time you wrote a pitch… ? Possibly never…

Here is a hint: the internet is full of free resources. Type in ‘business case’, ‘power point presentation’, etc and you will find other people’s materials, use their formats as templates, it will give you great ideas on how to make your content palatable and understand which are the key questions you need to answer.

What If They Don’t Listen?

There are 2 reasons why people will not listen:

a)     Your idea missed the point. So what, we all learn from mistakes. Have the guts to invite the top manager who rejected the idea for coffee and ask him/her precisely what was off with the idea. Thus will achieve two great things: you will learn a lot from a good corporate leader and you will become very visible to this leader. Leaders are always on the lookout for innovative thinkers… even if they make some mistakes.

b)    The management missed the point. After interviewing the manager in question over a cuppa you realize that he/she lives behind the times and has not caught up with current realities. Well then there is only one thing to do, escalate your ideas to the top of the mountain and if the old man with the white beard in the Mahogany paneled room also doesn’t want to listen to what you have to say it’s time to vote with your feet. Take your box of tricks to someone who will want to listen.

As we said last time, don’t wait for permission to be brilliant and cooperative to be granted. Winners give themselves permission.